The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 1 (of 4)
History
The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 1 (of 4)
Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Geology -- England -- Cornwall (County)
Besides these four principal patches of granite, there are four
others: 1st. that of Kitt Hill, near Callington; 2nd. that of
Tregonning and Godolphin, near Helston; 3d. that of Cligga Point, near
St. Agnes; and lastly, that of the celebrated St. Michael’s Mount. The
two first are of some size, and at the surface are both subdivided
near the middle, by the overlapping of the slate: the other two are
small, but very interesting to the geologist.
It is worthy of remark that the fertility of these granitic groups
gradually increases as they diminish in elevation; and it is a curious
but not surprising coincidence, that the number of parish churches
thereon follows the same order:――thus on the eastern and most
extensive tract of granite, near Launceston, there is only one church;
on the next there are three; on the Redruth patch six; and on the
Land’s End granite no less than nine, within a space considerably less
than that of the eastern tract.
Each of these insulated groups of granite is surrounded by schistose
rocks, the layers of which, on all sides, incline from the granite at
various angles, from 20° to 40°. Although these groups are thus
separated from each other by the slate at the surface, yet it is the
general opinion that they gradually approach beneath, until they are
all united into one and the same mass――the intermediate hollow spaces
(the valleys, as it were, between the granitic mountains) being
occupied by the slate. It might, however, be maintained that the
granite is imbedded in the slate, in large rounded masses, which would
also account for the former rock underlying the other, within the
limits of mining operations: and such an opinion would derive some
support from the fact, that small insulated masses of granite in the
slate are not of unfrequent occurrence.
The slate formation consists of two very distinct groups, when the
most characteristic rocks are alone regarded; but it is not easy to
trace the boundary between them, as the contiguous rocks appear to
pass gradually into each other. These groups have one character in
common: viz. that they consist of several distinct kinds of rocks,
each genus of which respectively may be subdivided into schistose and
compact rocks; the latter are imbedded in the former――are more
crystalline――and often contain clusters of their constituent minerals:
so that the complicated composition of these rocks is made known by
Nature’s own analysis.
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